


Cleithrophobia & a Collection of Colours.

by ZoeClementine



Category: Novel - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 05:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6457882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeClementine/pseuds/ZoeClementine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>December, monsters and ice-cream.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cleithrophobia & a Collection of Colours.

Bridget Donovan had stayed in several hospitals throughout her sixteen years. From orthopaedic to neurological surgeries, she had met with many doctors and seen several white walls. Her one week stay at the Children's Hospital in the city on the 19th of December 2011, was recommended by her neurologist in order to try and determine where in her brain the epileptic seizures were occurring, as well as to clarify whether or not any surgeries would be beneficial.

Bridget was diagnosed with epilepsy in the February of 2009, when she had just turned fourteen, and it had changed the way that she lived her life. The seizures varied between blacking out for a few seconds, to convulsions that would last for minutes. Ambulances would be called if Bridget didn’t wake up within a certain amount of time, and she would wake up in a white room, covered in bruises and tears, with her family surrounding her.

Because of the seizures (there were two or three a day, by this point), Bridget had become a severely anxious person, and was constantly on edge about where she was and who was with her. 

> _“What if I get hurt?”  
>  “What if no one is around to help me?”  
>  “What if no one will help me because they think that I’m  _just_ being strange?”_

Unfortunately, when she had seizures, Bridget would sometimes behave in an inappropriate or offensive manner. There had been times when she had spat, hissed and sworn at people who she cared about, or people who meant no harm towards her. Because of this, Bridget isolated herself. She would only allow her few close friends and her family to be around her, because they knew that this behaviour wasn’t typical of her. They could still see the good that Bridget could no longer see in herself.

The medication that Bridget had been prescribed, _(the orange, the blue, and the white)_ , made her feel very depressed. She thought that it was better if she stayed in her room, sometimes drawing bizarres monsters in notebooks that she found in her desk. She didn’t know why she was drawing them or what they were. All she knew was that when her window had turned dark, her mother would call her for dinner, which she would often decline to eat, and then she would go to bed. She was trapped in a mindset, somewhere in between giving up and being furious at everyone, including herself.

In early December, the days were over 35ºC. Bridget's older brother Riley would come into her bedroom and ask her if she would like to go for a swim in their pool, or if she would like an ice-cream. Rather than respond to his questions, Bridget would just tell Riley to leave her alone. He was such a kind young man, always willing to help anyone who needed it. He was also very intelligent, and would soon be leaving to study journalism in America at a university that he had been accepted into. Bridget knew all of this. Riley had never been anything but nurturing towards her. When Bridget was born, her parents discovered that she had spina bifida. When people would ask Riley, who was three at the time, how Bridget was going, he would reply with the sweetest, most innocent answer:

> _"My baby is broken."_

A week before Bridget was admitted into hospital for her testing, Riley stood outside of her door (he had learnt not to enter) and smiled at her. Bridget looked up at him. She had tears running down her face, they fell onto her notebook and drenched a drawing of a tentacled beast whose large, flame red eyes were now dripping down the page. A few moments later, she was crying hysterically, struggling to breathe. She gestured for Riley to come inside and sit on the bed with her, which he did. He didn't compliment her drawings or offer her ice-cream. He didn't dare touch her. There was no emotion, just silence.


End file.
